Toshi fureba oitaorete kuchinubeki mi wa Suminoe no matsu naranaku ni

年経れば老い倒れて朽ちぬべき
身は住の江の松ならなくに

Roma-ji: Toshi fureba oitaorete kuchinubeki mi wa Suminoe no matsu naranaku ni
English Translation: As the years go by,
grown old, I shall fall at last
and surely rot away—
for this body is not
a pine of Suminoe.
Meaning: As the years go by, this body is bound to grow old, fall and rot away, for it is no pine of Suminoe.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 689

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A screen poem"
Unlike the pines of Suminoe that do not decay with age, the human body grows old, falls and rots as the years go by. Turning the pine, sung until now as an emblem of long life, against itself, the poet brings out the frailty of human life.
The Ruijū text spells line 2 differently.

Line 1 means "as the years pass."
Line 2 means "growing old and falling," six syllables.
Line 3 means "bound to decay."
Line 4 means "this body, of Suminoe."
Line 5 means "is no pine," naku ni adversative and exclamatory; the beach pines that stand on in old age in the preceding poem and the body that decays form a pair.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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